Cynophobia
by peacetiger
Summary: When a young girl's family is murdered by a pack of wolves, she, as the sole survivor, is adopted by the Call family. What will happen when she learns that the two people she trusted the most turn into wolves? Will she overcome her fears for Seth? Seth/OC
1. The Adoption

Cynophobia

When I was a little girl, my family was attacked by a pack of wolves. My mother, my father, and my brother were murdered. Animal control finally came before the wolves could finish me off, but I was brutally scarred: physically and mentally. I was taken to the local hospital and made a full recovery. Alone. I had no family for thousands of miles; no one wanted to see a mentally scarred little girl anyways.

Weeks after I had made a full recovery, I began living at Seattle's Home for Orphaned Children. I didn't make many friends there. One day, one of the ladies who worked there came up to me. I had never bothered to learn her name, "Bay, you're going to be adopted by a nice lady named Tiffany Call, she has one son named Embry, and he's going to be you're big brother. Doesn't that sound exciting?"

I wasn't sure what to think. I was what society knows as a genius. As a five year old, I was already in 3rd grade, yet even that was becoming too easy for me. I later learned that Embry, too, was in 3rd grade. I wondered if he would dislike me just because we would be in the same grade. I spent the last couple day in the orphanage in nervous anticipation. What if they don't like me? What if I grow attached again and then another pack of wolves comes and find me? What if I'm abused? I heard about that kind of thing from the older kids in the orphanage. They said some parents hit their kids and don't really love them. My biggest fear was probably to end up in a place like that. With wolves. I shuddered and went to bed. It was going to be a big day tomorrow.

When I woke up the next morning, all my things were gone. One of the worker ladies popped her head into my room and said, "Hey! You're new family is here to pick you up!" That lady needed to get off the caffeine. She was way too peppy.

I slowly got out of bed and put on the clothes the worker set out for me. After I did all that other daily routine stuff, I began pacing in the hallway in anticipation. Then, I started to overhear a conversation behind the wall. "So what does she look like?" asked the first voice.

"She has straight dark brown hair that goes down to her mid-back, large brown eyes, her skin is a light chestnut color, and she's about 3 feet tall," described the second voice. I looked down at myself; she was describing me!

Then the first lady, that I now assumed was Tiffany, exclaimed, "Oh this is so exciting! When can we meet her?"

I thought that was the perfect time to make my entrance. I tried not to appear too intelligent, just in case she was like the bullies at school that couldn't accept a 5-year-old in their 3rd grade class. I quietly walked in and scurried to go hide behind the worker lady that was talking to my future mother. They both smiled at me, apparently they found this cute. Good.

"Hello Veronica," Tiffany said bending down to my size. Veronica was my real name, Bay was a nickname, "My name is Tiffany, Embry and I are going to be your new family."

Suddenly, I felt patronized and I hated every minute of it. I didn't need to be talked down to; I understood more than the average 3rd grader to begin with, "I know what an adoption is. People call me Bay," I told her, demonstrating my intelligence.

"Bay? Okay. Well it almost slipped my mind just how intelligent you are. The school on the reserve is willing to accept you in whatever grade provides you with a challenge."

I had no idea that she would know already that I was in an advanced class, but I was excited, knowing that she already know I was super smart and still accepted me.

"Um... Where are my bags?" I inquired. I just noticed that they weren't in this room.

"Oh Embry took them to the car. When he gets back, we'll go," Tiffany replied. At the very moment, a young boy, probably a foot and a half taller than me walked in and stood my Tiffany, "Oh well, I guess we can go now. Thanks for everything Trisha." Tiffany waved at the worker lady, grabbed Embry and my hand, and we walked to her car.


	2. Home Sweet Home

"So where are we going?" I asked, being more confident about who I was as a person. I was also pretty sure that the people that adopted me weren't bad people. Embry, my new brother, looked very happy with his life, and his mom was even more cheery.

"We're going to an Indian reserve in Forks," said Embry, "That's where me and my mom live."

"A Native American reserve? That's so cool. I've only read about those in history books. I wonder if they are as nature full as I always imagined they are..." I thought aloud. I was met with shocked looks. Tiffany was quick to hide it. Embry not so much. Smart things shouldn't be coming out of a 5-year-old's mouth.

"Oh yeah. You're some sort of genius aren't you? I remember now. Hey if anyone at school picks on you, you've got me, and my best friends Jacob and Quil, to defend you. No one's going to bully my new little sister." he tapped my nose. I was already starting to like him.

"So what kind of native reserve is this?" I asked, wanting to know more about the culture I was going to be integrated into.

"Oh it's the coolest! They are called Quileutes, and Jake's dad is always telling the most interesting stories about the tribes histories!" Embry started to bounce in his seat. Obviously he found this topic quite exciting, "Legend has it, that the Quileute men were descended from wolves."

I stopped breathing for a moment. Wolves? What an unlucky twist of fate. Then I started to hyperventilate, but I quickly gained control over that before anyone noticed, "Are you Quileute?" I managed to choke that out without any suspicion. I didn't want anyone to know I had a fear, or they might think less of me and send me back. I didn't want to go back to that stupid orphanage, everyone there wasn't as educationally driven as I was and kept blowing everything off.

"Ha no, I wish," Embry answered absentmindedly. He obviously didn't notice to constant flow of incoherent thoughts that were flowing through my mind, "My mom just moved here when she was pregnant with me for no reason, right mom?"

Tiffany who had been silent most of the car ride gave a nod in agreement, "Well, I had a reason, but I'll explain it to you when you're old enough to understand," Then, she directed her words at me, "I'm from the Makah tribe. I was pretty young when I had Embry. Embry doesn't have a father because he was a man I didn't know very well and then lost track of."

I was surprised to hear that I wouldn't actually have a daddy, because in my mind, I've never imagined a family that didn't have both parents. It was always an average American family with a father, mother and two children. Probably because that's what my family was. Even after I learned what divorce was, I didn't think it happened that often. At least I had a new brother that said he'd protect me.

The rest of the car ride was in silence. As we got closer to the reserve, I saw more and more trees, and almost completely forgot about the wolves thing. I was excited to be in such a green area. It was even greener than where I used to live, which was no very green by comparison, but have a forest about 5 miles away. What if there were wolves in these forests too? I remember animal control said that those wolves didn't even belong in America, so they must have escaped from a zoo or something. Freaky. My mind flashed back to the day my family was murdered, but it didn't last very long because I suppressed it. I couldn't live in the past, I was about to start a new life! With a new sibling, and mom. I'm sure they know better than to live by forest with unsafe animals that ACTUALLY belong there.

We arrived at a quaint little two story home. It was pretty much a shell-yellow vertical rectangular home. The door was in the front, and the garage was off to the right hand side of the house. Our backyard was pretty much the edge of the woods, but the house had one random tree with a tire swing off to the side. Pretty much your stereotypical average American home. Tiffany picked up my bags and told Embry to give me a tour of the house. He quickly grabbed my arm and dragged me towards the front door. He took his key, unlocked the door, and flung it open.

"Voila! Casa de Call!" he exclaimed. I didn't want to ruin his excitement by pointing out that those were actually two different languages. I smiled politely and walked in. The inside was so simple, and I loved every bit of it. It was clearly self-designed based on the convenience of the location of everything. The dining area was to the left, with a window chaise and a table for meals, and the kitchen was directly in front of it. To the left was a couch facing the left wall, which had a small tv on a shelf filled with CDs and movies. Directly in front of me was the staircase, where you could see the upstairs pathway from downstairs and a hallway on either side of the staircase. Embry said the one on the left is the guest room, and the one on the right was the laundry room. He took me upstairs where there were three doors, one on the right wall, one in the middle, and one on the left wall. "Do you wanna see our mom's or mine first, 'cause I'm showing yours last."

I chose to see our mom's first, liking the sound of calling someone mommy again. It was a large master bedroom with a queen sized bed, a bed size table stacked with books, and a dresser. There was a small corridor that led to her bathroom but that "doesn't matter" because Embry's room was "much cooler than this." His words. Not mine.

His room was in the center, and it had a bathroom door on the left, and a small walk in closet on the right. The bed lined up with the far wall, right underneath a window overlooking the "backyard." One of the trees sturdier branches were near his window, and low and behold beneath it, was the swing. His whole entire room was camo-themed.

"Like the forest floor," he explained, obviously obsessed with nature. He lead me towards the bathroom, and at first I was confused, but it turned out the bathroom linked our rooms together. The bathroom was so cute because it was the woodsy theme, but then there were flowers squeezed here and there, probably to make up for the boyish theme, I'd have to live with.

My room was by far the most beautiful room I had ever seen. It was so pretty and lively, and there were flowers painted all over the walls, on the fan, and on my bed sheets. There was a large walk-in closet, and the bed was right by the window viewing the forest. Embry quickly checked my face, "Do you like it? It was my idea. I thought you would like it."

"I love it!" I squealed. This was the beginning on one of the best days ever, "Everything's perfect thank you so much!" I gave him a nice long hug and he hugged me back.

"Anything for my baby sister."

**A/N: Hey so I'm considering making Bay a supernatural being. Let me know what you think, via review or the poll I just set up. Thanks!**


	3. First Day of School

As I quietly settled in my new room, I opened my bags and put on my pajamas. I took in the scent of the house in general and thought about how life was going to go from there. I had just met Jake and Quil at the La Push beach, and I thought that they were really cool, and would be fun to hang out with. I would be starting school on Monday, and despite the creepy wolf legend, I had a feeling that I would really love La Push, the name of the Quileute land. The sound of the ocean, even though it was miles away, near the school, calmly rocked me to sleep, and I had a feeling that everything would be fine. It wasn't.

I dreamt of the small cottage my family stayed in over our last spring break together. The last time we ever had together.

It was so close to the woods, what were we thinking?

_"Bay! HURRY UP!" I heard my mother scream as the growls grew louder and louder. As they came closer, we started moving faster, adrenaline pumping. Dad and Jamie, my brother, were locking all the doors as fast as they could, running around the house making sure everything was as secure as a rickety old cottage could possibly be, "Take the back door, and get to the closest neighbor!"___

_"Dad, the doors are LOCKED! YOU LOCKED THEM REMEMEBER? They're right outside! WE HAVE NO NEIGHBORS!" I shouted at him. He obviously wasn't thinking clearly, after all, we were all panicking. My dad cussed. There was just one weak landline that didn't always work, but our best bet was still for someone to call animal control.___

_"I finally got through to animal control! They said they'll be here in 10 minutes!" my mom yelled from the mini kitchen. We didn't have 10 minutes. I wish we had had 10 minutes. I still didn't understand why these wolves wanted us. We didn't do anything; maybe they were hungry. I didn't have time to wonder. The wolves started jumping on our doors, trying to smash them down, and eventually, __**CRACK!**__ One door broke down, and they all poured in from the one opening. Next thing I knew, everything was gone, and it was just me, cornered by a pack of wolves. I had nowhere else to go. Suddenl__y__ sandy colored wolf jumped out of nowhere from the back of the pack straight at me._

I woke with a loud shrilling scream.

Tiffany raced into my room, in her dark purple robe. Embry made an entrance via the bathroom, in his race car pajamas, and then tripped in all his drowsy glory. I curled my body into a ball and began shaking in fear. What if the wolves escape from wherever they are now and track my scent here? After all, what if animal control just set them free in the wild after stopping them from fully killing me? What if they come and attack my new family? I thought about the window in my bedroom facing out into the woods.

I could vaguely hear the sounds of them both comforting me and rubbing my back in soothing circles. I was vaguely aware that I was safe, but there was something that was haunting me from the back of my mind. Tiffany and Embry both decided to spend the night with me in my bed, which was fine, because I was in no mood to be alone. I easily went back to bed in their arms and slowly drifted off in anticipation the next day.

I don't know why I was so worried about the first day of school; it went off without a hitch. Well maybe there was one hitch. The moment I walked into the classroom, clinging to Embry's side, I was ripped away by the teacher. He said, "Hello, you must be the new student, Veronica. I'm Mr. Fulture." He smiles brightly at me: one of those this-is-going-to-be-a-great-year smiles. I've learned to ignore those, but I felt his vibe, and believed him. I was going to correct him about my name, preferring to be called by my nickname, but he quickly turned me towards the class. I guess I would have to correct the whole class now.

"Good morning class, this is your new classmate, Veronica!" The murmurs began almost immediately. There were the girls who would whisper to each other, "Oh she's so cute." Then there were the nerds, fearing that my intelligence level would surpass theirs. The biggest surprise to me was that no one else cared. I guess I wouldn't have any bullying problems.

"Actually, I'd like to be called Bay," I piped in clearly, but softly. The whole class silenced themselves and stared at me. Half shot me some confused glances. Great, now I have to explain myself. It's best to lie, to minimized bullying risk.

"Why?" one kid dared to shout out.

I took a deep breath and spoke what first popped into my mind, "It's because I used to live by the bay and I loved it more than anyone else." Yeah, I thought that sounded reasonable.

"I think she's lying!" another kid shouted out.  
"Yeah! It's probably because she's like a baby. The baby of every class" I froze in horror. How could they be so spot on, so quickly? Here comes the bullying... I thought, but it never started. Instead I was met with cooing.  
"Aww. Baby Bay!"  
"Bay the little baby"  
"Ha-ha. BAY-BAY BAY!"

"Guys cut it out! That's my new sister!" shouted Embry as he stood up. I was glad he was defending me. I didn't want anything to evolve into any problems. Turned out he didn't have to do anything. All the shouts were cries of affections; everyone thought it was cute to have a little girl prodigy in their class.

"That's adorable! She's so cute! The Calls have the cutest kids," cooed one girl. I don't think she aware that she said the last sentence out loud. Embry blushed and sat down.

I didn't have any social problems at school. I was practically everyone's little sister. Nothing bad ever happened to me. School was the safe place I had always dreamed it would be. Even though I took a test to skip many grades ahead of Embry, I chose to stay in his year and study independently, so that we could be closer. I still went to school; I just didn't study what the others were studying. This clearly wasn't a problem for the other students. They just thought I was adorable, and I had absolutely no problem with that.


	4. Rest in Peace

In a year, I was very used to calling Tiffany my mom. I didn't feel like I was replacing my biological mother, I figured I was just adapting to the new environment (as my biology book would say). I had reached the "mature" age of 6, and instead of falling loving with princesses, fairies, and finding my latest celebrity crush, I was used to going over to Jake's house after school to listen to the guys talk about cars and stuff, or playing with Jake's twin sisters, Rachel and Rebecca. Jake's mom, Sarah, also became somewhat of a motherly figure to me.

Sarah's death came as a shock to us all. It was hardest for Rachel and Rebecca, but it was difficult for Embry's and Jake's 9 year old minds to wrap around. She died tragically in a car crash, and there was no one to blame. Billy spent a lot of time sitting quietly on the couch thinking to him the days after. We left him alone, all trying to process this new event in our lives. How were we supposed to go on? What would Sarah want?

I dwelled on these thoughts and many others as my mom, Embry and I walked over to the Blacks to offer our condolences the day of the funeral. The whole house was silent, except for the occasional sob from one of the corners or couches. Sarah's body was laid out for viewing, and there were many flowers already set atop her casket. I couldn't help but shed a few tears, and it seemed I wasn't the only one. Many people were sharing comforting words to the Blacks, and Sarah's parents.

Billy approached us from behind and set his hands on mine and Embry's shoulders. He said, "There will be a service out back in a little bit. It will be a traditional Quileute service, because she was part of the main family."

I immediately began to wonder what the service would be like. Someone was going to mention the spirits and the wolves no doubt; Billy told us stories about the Quileute wolf protectors all the time. I still couldn't really wrap my head around it. All dogs were bad; they were all threats, and could hurt my family. How could they protect?

My mom, Embry, and I headed towards some open chairs that were set up for the service. We ended up sitting next to the Clearwater's family. I was sitting next to the Clearwater son. The boy wasn't much taller than me, so I guessed he was one year older than me, 7. He turned towards me and smiled, "Hi, I'm Seth."

Did he feel that same weird pull I was feeling? I wondered. Then the service started. Four men carried forward the casket, and then Billy followed close behind. Billy was the leader of this service, for he was the chief of the tribe. He was dressed like a Native American chief, with a headdress and animal skinned robes to top it off. Lastly, 4 giant dogs followed behind Billy. I took in a sharp breath. Wolves? They looked like wolves. Seth looked over and smiled at me again. He must have mistake my panic and shock for a pleasant surprise or excitement, "They're mine. Don't they look cool? They're old, so this might be the last service they ever walk, but I owned the tribal dogs! These are the exact same species of wolf that the first chief shared a body with, except these are tamed. Cool, right? I love dogs."

I could barely respond, refusing to take my eyes off of any of the wolves for more than a moment, in case they do anything crazy like start attacking people. After all, they couldn't be trusted. I managed to do a quick half-hearted nod while trying to keep my breathing in check so no one would suspect any panic coming from me.

"We gather here today to celebrate the life of Sarah Uley Black. She was an amazing woman who is now in heaven with our previous great tribal leaders like Taha Aki. She will be missed, but will forever be in the loving protection of our brothers before us..." Billy began. I couldn't focus on his words while staring so intently at the dogs. I was told they were just there to represent protection of the tribe's wolves, but a part of my mind just couldn't accept that. Wolves were destruction; they didn't belong at a funeral for such a loving and wonderful person like Sarah.

If I got my breathing in check, I started shaking. If I got my shaking to stop, I'd start hyperventilating again. I couldn't seem to win this battle, so I tried grabbing things to hold myself down. Nothing worked; my small body just couldn't seem to handle the levels of anxiety I was experiencing. Then a hand from my left side moved to grab mine. Suddenly I felt more relaxed and in control. I looked up to see Seth smiling at me again. I didn't know how he could possibly be so capable of smiling at a time like this, but being with him, I wanted to start smiling too. I resisted the urge out of respect for Sarah.

The rest of the service was depressing, to be honest. All these wonderful memories people had shared with the one person that would no longer be with us. The heaviness of the day finally crashed on us children after the service, when everyone had already cleared out. Jake was on the floor in tears crying and wailing, with Embry, Quil, and me to try and calm him down.

We all grew closer that day, but all I could really think about was Seth. Could a person really have that big of an effect on a 6 year old? I thought back to all the stories that Billy liked to tell us. They couldn't be true. Jake said that they weren't true; that Billy was just acting like a superstitious weirdo. Who knew though? No one that was alive then was alive now to account for anything. It made me very suspicious. I thought about the imprinting that Billy described. It was rare, but that one person you found would be your soul mate forever, and you two would be perfect for each other.

Soon, Embry and I walked home. I was lost in my own thoughts about the legends and love when Embry said, "I saw you panicking at the funeral. What happened?"

I wasn't sure how to respond. Should I just lie? No. He's my brother. He should know everything about me. I carefully thought out my words so that he wouldn't think I needed professional help. I was handling this just fine by myself, "No, I was just thinking back to my biological family and then had an anxiety attack. Nothing to worry about, it happens all the time." Okay so I didn't think out my words that well.

He looked at me weirdly, "It happens all the time? Maybe you should tell mom. You know, us living in such a wolf infested area, and a fear of wolves? Maybe you should change homes," he whispered the last part.

Those comments made me panic more. "What no! I don't want to change homes. I love it here. Unless you want me to go change homes... That's fine, the agency could probably find somewhere else," I replied hesitantly. I seriously didn't want to go. Where would I go? Back to the orphanage with the school where everyone hated me for being smart? On the Quileute reserve, smart people were highly respected and I loved that. I actually felt like I belonged here.

"No, no, I swear I didn't mean that. I just wanted to keep your best interests in mind. I don't want you to be living miserably for the rest of your life in an area that has legends, not only based on wolves, but with them being everywhere, watching over us," Embry said, quickly explaining his thoughts.

I was relieved it was just a misunderstanding. Nothing bad was going to happen; I wasn't going anywhere. I didn't want to leave. I had friends here. Also, I wanted to know more about Seth. The pull made me curious. What was going on?

**A/N: yes, so I made a couple changes in chapter 4, and I noticed this GIGANTIC mess up in chapter 3, so I fixed that too. I might start this story up again. :)**


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